Gal of a Different Color

As they say, the devil is in the details! The game is still for the most part functionally complete, but it’s continued to feel hollow and not all there. The majority of the work recently has been almost entirely on the UI elements and boy, do they make a difference. It’s really interesting to see just how necessary seemingly small “polish” elements are when it comes to properly conveying the full depth of the gameplay systems. Check out some of the changes for yourselves!

As the player levels up they can now unlock new, better variations of Gals which have unique colors, improved starting stats, higher mood, and a larger level cap! Even once the player has a decently staffed brothel, the player will want to start upgrading their Gals as well as hiring new ones.

Almost all of the new UI has been contained within panels. As such, it started to feel weird that the map wasn’t. I’ve gone ahead and rectified this by changing the way the map is handled. Additionally there are now clouds over locked parts of the map which contain the unlock requirements to advance to that part of the story!

It makes sense to keep the UI and “gamey” elements to a minimum when the brothel is actually open and Gals are getting their freak on, but whenever the player is in the “planning” phase for the next business night there just wasn’t enough information on the screen. This made the game feel shallow and un-interactive. Thus I’ve gone ahead and added UI elements to each of the rooms during the day so that the player understands the stat building and assigning aspect of the game. Additionally I’ve started to re-work the mood graphics in order to give players more gameplay time and to feel more satisfying.

Was the update of the dialogue panel necessary? No, not really. But again, much like with the quest panel, it just didn’t feel right in it’s previous iteration with the UI updates. Additionally I figured doing something a little bit more original with the dialogue would be fitting for Dimlight as well. It’s not an exceptionally original game by any means, but it also isn’t one to take the most generic option either I feel.

This is a major work in progress, but I feel it will help the game a lot. Basically the old lore/collection panel that got scrapped is coming back in a new iteration because… well, it’s actually really necessary much to my surprise. Without a way for the player to track their progress- what they’ve unlocked and what they still have to unlock, the just isn’t enough motivation for players. Really glad I get to put this back into the game though, the lore system was my baby that almost got thrown out with the bathwater.